I’m a meat-eater. Never been anything else. I did have a vegetarian girlfriend once. The vegetarian and the carnivore. Didn’t last. I will try to buy ecologically sound meat though. Which for example has me worried a bit about tuna. And, if there existed a substitute I’d be all for it.

So… Perhaps it time for me to donate a bit to some of those who are actually trying to come up with something new.

Despite its popularity, meat — both in its production and in its consumption — has a number of adverse effects on human health, environmental quality, and animal welfare. These include: diseases associated with the over-consumption of animal fats; meat-borne pathogens and contaminants; antibiotic-resistant bacteria due to the routine use of antibiotics in livestock; inefficient use of resources in cycling grains and water through animals to produce protein; soil, air, and water pollution from farm animal wastes; and inhumane treatment of farm animals. As meat consumption continues to increase, worldwide, these problems are now a global concern.

Ever wondered why Americans seems to identify so much with white farmers? The Kung Fu Monkey has. Good stuff:

There are four times as many Americans living in urban than rural areas. There are four times as many people sucking back coffee in New York city alone than make a living farming. According to the Burea of Labor, there are just as many people employed in Architecture and Engineering as farming, hell, 3 million people working in Computer and Mathematical jobs. But when one of these “What does America think about culture” pieces comes on, do I ever see a mid-30’s software engineer onscreen bitching about having to download BitTorrents of “The IT Crowd”? Fuck and no.

Four million people in the US play World of Warcraft. And yet, do I ever hear:

ANDERSON: We stopped by the gates of Ogrimmar in Durotar, on the east coast of Kalimdor, where one local told us Hollywood just can’t relate to the level-grinding life.

UNIDENTIFIED ORC: They’ve never been back here, questing Razormane or Drygulch Ravine, y’know … or farming for Peacebloom and Silverleaf. They’re out of touch.

On the Intertubes no-one can here you scream. And as such I present you with a link to Sceptico’s excellent The Woo Handbook. Let’s pick up two of the passages:

4. Remember, your personal experience is always more valid than their scientific studies (or your lack of them). Anecdotes will convince more people you’re right than any number of “studies”, so have a couple ready. It doesn’t matter if they’re true – you’re on the internet so no one knows who you are and can check them anyway.

Oh yes. This is what drives must crap. We’re all emotional animals. Personally I have excema, and on and off in it has been fairly annoying. My parent would try literally anything (and who would blame them). So I have actually tried homeopathy. But it is a good example, as medicine can’t pinpoint the cause or really cure it the field is wide open for alternative “medicine” sold via personal experience ads.

10. Say that skeptics are “not skeptical enough”. This Zen-like approach makes you seem like the real skeptic while the skeptics look like rubes. In fact, extra points if you call the skeptics “Rubes” who have been fooled by _____________ (insert whatever they appear to support – big pharma / conventional medicine, you name it). You are then the “real skeptic” and can refer to the skeptics as “pseudo-skeptics”.

Because “real” skeptics are skeptic about skepticism and embraces woo. The irony is of course that those promoting this argument seldom understand that science does this all the time. Minus the woo. The difference is subtly but important: Evidence.&nbsp;